McGuireWoods partner Diane Flannery has been honored as Product Liability Attorney of the Year in the 2020 Americas Women in Business Law Awards organized by Euromoney’s Legal Media Group. The annual awards honor women lawyers and law firms for exemplary service and advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Winners were honored in a virtual awards ceremony on Sept. 21.
Based in Richmond, Virginia, Flannery is an accomplished litigator and chair of McGuireWoods’ Products, Environmental & Mass Torts Litigation Department. She has organized and managed large-scale defenses in class action and multidistrict litigation (MDL), handled emotionally charged severe injury and death cases, and advised clients on punitive damages, product recalls and matters before the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
“I am honored to receive this recognition and to be included with talented women lawyers who have distinguished themselves as leaders in their practice areas,” Flannery said.
Flannery serves as lead defense counsel for a hardwood flooring retailer in more than 140 class actions and dozens of personal-injury cases stemming from alleged formaldehyde contamination in the company’s laminate flooring made in China. She represented the company in a 2019 settlement of two MDLs in Virginia in which there was no admission of fault or liability by the company.
Over the past year, Flannery also represented a gas company in multiple class actions and individual cases related to a pipeline explosion that resulted in death, personal injury, and individual and commercial property damage claims, reaching a global settlement within 15 months of the incident.
Among her many honors, Flannery is a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society composed of less than one half of one percent of American lawyers.
“Diane is a brilliant attorney and an outstanding leader who is instrumental to the success of our litigation practice,” said Dion Hayes, McGuireWoods’ deputy managing partner for litigation. “We are proud to see her receive this well-deserved honor.”